Tag - agriculture

 
 

AGRICULTURE

Matcha is added to beverages on offer at Kettl Tea in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles on May 20.
BUSINESS
Jul 6, 2025
Global matcha 'obsession' drinks Japan's tea farms dry
The boom is having to contend with a declining number of tea plantations in Japan and the threat of tariffs from the United States.
One of Aigen's solar-powered autonomous AI Element robots demonstrates how it can hammer down on specified targets at Bowles Farm in Los Banos, California, on June 26.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 6, 2025
AI robots fill in for weed killers and farm hands
Weeds are becoming immune to herbicides, but a shortage of laborers often leaves chemicals as the only viable option.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2025
Government to release stockpiled rice for processed foods from August
The government will release its stockpiled rice for use in processed foods and beverages such as miso, rice crackers, sake and shōchū distilled spirits.
Farmers spray herbicide at Kazuhachi Hosaka's rice farm in Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture, on June 19.
JAPAN
Jul 5, 2025
In reversal, Japan now wants rice farmers to produce more. Will it work?
The new direction has taken on an unexpected urgency as Japan grapples with a shortage of the all-important staple.
A crop field in Oxnard, California, on June 18
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 1, 2025
Immigration raids leave crops unharvested and California farms at risk
In the vast agricultural lands north of Los Angeles, farmers and field supervisors have said that ICE raids have led a majority of workers to stop showing up.
Rice paddies in the city of Asahikawa, Hokkaido. Rice is a major crop for Hokkaido, with the region having produced 562,400 tons of it last year.
BUSINESS / Economy / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Jun 30, 2025
U.S. import pressure raises concerns for Hokkaido agriculture
The U.S. is nudging Japan to import more rice, soybeans, and maize — vital crops that support Hokkaido's economy.
Tsutomu Uchida has experimented with various cultivation techniques since he started growing avocados in Shizuoka Prefecture in October 2020.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / OUR PLANET
Jun 22, 2025
As Japan warms, avocados emerge as an unlikely savior for farmers
In traditional mikan strongholds like Shizuoka, farmers are growing increasingly concerned about future production and seeing opportunities with avocados.
A school and surrounding soy fields in an area of the Amazon where soybean farming is expanding, in Belterra, Brazil, in October.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jun 22, 2025
A corporate deal that protected the Amazon from soy farming starts to show cracks 
Many are taking advantage of a loophole in the Amazon Soy Moratorium, a voluntary agreement signed by the world's top grain traders in 2006.
The government aims to promote a drastic review of its rice policy by understanding farmers' medium- and long-term plans on planting areas and others.
JAPAN
Jun 20, 2025
Japan to survey farmers on rice production intentions
By understanding farmers' medium- and long-term plans on planting areas and others, the government aims to promote a drastic review of its rice policy.
Poultry serum samples are tested for antibodies to the avian influenza virus in Campinas, Brazil, in 2023.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jun 19, 2025
Geography helps shield Brazil from U.S.-style bird flu epidemic, for now
Brazil's vast and diverse geography may be keeping migratory birds away from poultry farms in the country's interior.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 17, 2025
Farm ministry says farmers 'misunderstand' rice statistics
The farm ministry's position lacks accountability, an expert from the University of Tokyo has said.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi talks to rice farmers in Fukushima Prefecture on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 16, 2025
Agriculture ministry aims to stop publishing rice index amid accuracy concerns
A gap between the rice crop situation index and farmers’ testimonies about actual yields occurred because the agriculture ministry was using outdated sampling numbers.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 12, 2025
Japan to move up auctions for imported rice
This year's first auction for rice as a staple food will take place on June 27 instead of the usual September, agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Thursday.
Seeking access to pricier and more demanding foreign markets for its beef, Brazil's Amazonian state of Para has seized on the global spotlight of the U.N. COP 30 summit to burnish its environmental credentials.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jun 11, 2025
Why Brazil’s ‘King of Cattle’ is embracing a plan to save the Amazon
The rancher has his eyes on exporting to pricier and more demanding markets in the United States, Europe and Asia.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi eats a rice ball made of stockpiled rice during a tasting event in Tokyo on May 29.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 11, 2025
How long can Koizumi stay frenemies with the agriculture lobby?
The farm minister's aggressive advocacy for change in the agriculture sector sets him up for a direct showdown with Japan Agricultural Cooperatives.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks in a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 10, 2025
Japan to release extra 200,000 tons of stockpiled rice as prices fall
The average price of a 5-kilogram bag of rice at supermarkets in the week through June 1 was ¥4,223, down ¥37 from the previous week.
Japan faces soaring rice prices, a powerful farming cooperative resistant to change, declining farmer numbers, falling rice consumption and conflicting government policies that hinder effective reform of the sector.
COMMENTARY
Jun 10, 2025
How ‘vintage’ rice is shaking up Japanese politics
Rice is where consumers have drawn the line. The staple rose by 98% in the past year, adding almost half a percentage point to headline inflation.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to the media as he inspects a warehouse storing stockpiled rice in Kanagawa Prefecture on May 30.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 6, 2025
From ridicule to redemption: Rice crisis returns Koizumi to the spotlight
The lawmaker, sometimes said to be long on image and short on substance, has won praise for bringing down the price of rice.
Takuya Haraguchi, head of ReFruits, speaks while looking at the kiwifruit vine at his farm in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, on April 24. A newcomer to farming, he hopes to revive the area by growing kiwifruits in this former no-go zone.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2025
'Moving forward': the Gen Z farmer growing Fukushima kiwifruits
Fukushima is renowned for its delicious fruit, from pears to peaches, but the nuclear disaster led many people in Japan to shun produce grown there.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (left) and agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi attend the first ministerial meeting on stable rice supply, held at the Prime Minister's Office on Thursday.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2025
Ishiba seeks probe on high prices at first rice meeting
A key issue in future discussions at the ministerial council will be how to optimize rice distribution.

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